Archives for April 2014

Hello! Colleen here, with a way to decorate a totebag that will make it worthy of gift-giving. You do realize that Mother’s Day is right around the corner, right? I know! With Easter being so late in April, we have to really move fast if we want to give any handmade gifts to the moms in our lives. No worries because this happens to be a fast project. And cute too.

After you print your pattern, place it on top of the cardboard and slide it into the totebag. This prevents the markers from seeping to the backside as well as holds the pattern a little more stable.

You could also iron the pattern onto the shiny side of a piece of freezer paper, then iron that to the tote or tee shirt to prevent slipping. However, make sure you do a test for iron safeness on any shopping bags. The one I used above needed a press cloth between it and the iron.

Now all you need to do is outline the pattern with your choice of colors.

You can mix more than one color too.

This was the finished design after outlining with purple, pink, and a few green dots in the center for the hydrangea buds.

Dampen your paintbrush with a little water and go over the marker lines. The more water you use, the more of the markers will blend. The less water, the more defined the lines will be.

You can do a little of both – leave some outlining and blend other parts. There is no right or wrong way to do this.

You can fill in the pattern completely or leave spaces for the totebag to show thru.

It’s a great kids’ project too. If they’re too young to outline, they would still love to grab a paintbrush and “paint” a present for Mom or Gramma, wouldn’t they?

Isn’t this a great craft for Mother’s Day? Or any other day, actually.

If you use the markers on a shirt, they’re washable after drying 24 hours. To be on the safe side, I think I’d heatset them anyway with an iron, although the instructions don’t mention that.

Could you stand to be a little more organized in your bathroom? I know I could. I find organizing rather boring, unless I can combine it with creating a cool home decor accent. Today I am sharing a project fitting that bill- a rustic, chalkboard reclaimed pallet wood bathroom organizer using cute little jars I scored at the Dollar Tree recently! For only $3 and some supplies I had on hand, this project packs a big punch on the cheap. You can totally make this. Give it to Mom for Mother’s Day!

SUPPLIES:

TUTORIAL:

Begin by hammering the sawtooth hanger in the middle upper back of the wood. You want to do this before gluing the jars in place.

Measure placement for the jars and mark three evenly space dots on the front of your board with pencil or marker. This board already had 3 evenly space holes drilled for a project that never happened. Apply a generous dot of Amazing Goop on the board on the marked spots and on the jars in the middle back. Let this sit for 2-10 minutes, then place jars, holding gentle pressure on each for about 1 minute. Let this cure for a couple of hours before the next step.

Paint the indented area with Chalkboard paint. This took several light coats, drying 15 minutes between each.

Label with chalk and hang on wall!

Do you love it? I do!

Our whole family is on a big health kick, so low carb recipes are on the dinner menu each and everyday! Today I am sharing with you my version of an Atkins Low carb Buffalo Wing Cauliflower Recipe! It was such a hit, we had it two nights in a row, but I varied it the second time and got it down to taste perfection. This is the perfect recipe if you are like me, and chicken wings freak you out a bit. My husband loves wings, especially my Best Ever Hot Wings Recipe, but I just can’t get on board.

INGREDIENTS

1large head of cauliflower

3 Tablespoons olive oil

4 Tablespoons Buffalo hot sauce

1Tablespoon shiracha

3Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

Celery sticks

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Cut cauliflower into florets and sprinkle 1 tablespoon olive oil over them. Roast on middle rack on a baking sheet for 40 minutes.

While roasting, pour hot wing sauce and siracha into a small sauce pan. Heat to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, stir, remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Heat a large sauté pan with remaining olive oil. Add roasted cauliflower and sauté about 5 minutes. Add the hot sauce and cook for 1 additional minute, tossing until cauliflower is fully coated.

Today I am going to show you how to make a rustic monogram sign using recycled pallets and burlap! This would be perfect on a front door, as mantel decor or wall art. Not only that, but it is an eco-friendly way to decorate your house on the cheap.

I showed you how to make a wood pallet sign using a Kreg Jig in this DIY Pallet Sign Tutorial. Kreg makes joining wood slats super easy. I LOVE IT.

Once your sign is created, stain it with your choice of color. My favorite way to stain these days is Minwax Wood Finishing Cloths. Stain and seal in one step with an easy swipe.

I used my cricut to make a stencil with a design I created in Photoshop. The software I use to connect my Cricut and my laptop is Sure Cuts Alot, but I am pretty sure that is no longer available. Cricut has software for this purpose, which I have not used.

I used sticky back paper for my stencil so it would stick to the Burlap. I prepared the burlap with Stiffy fabric stiffening spray so that it wouldn’t fray when I cut it.

Paint with blue Chalky Finish Paint by DecoArt. I am loving this line.

One of my favorite things about the arrival of spring is finally being able to go outdoors and get busy with spray paint projects! The time is here, and today I am sharing with you my favorite DIY spray paint projects from creatives everywhere. You will find DIY curtains, home decor, wearables and more. Be ready to be amazed at what you can do with a little spray paint and inspiration.

I am so excited to share with you this great Dollar Tree wall art project that you can make for $3! I found some adorable spring/summer print gift bags on my most recent trip there and decided to bring them home and make barn wood frames from scrap wood for them. While there, I also grabbed the coordinating navy blue planter, knowing I would put the DIY Paper Daisies I showed you last spring in there to go with the daisy on one of the cute gift bags. Once I got the three bags framed, I decided there needed to be text on the chevron backgrounds, so I cut out “Oh Glorious Day” using my Cricut. You can get the cut file too!

Here are the three bags. I loved the daisy and the chevron prints in coordinating colors on the other bag.

TUTORIAL:

I measured the bags to see how big to make my frames. I decided I wanted the opening to be 9×10 inches.

I shared an Ana White Barnwood Frame Plan in this DIY Barnwood Frame Tutorial with Free Printables. For this project, I wanted different dimensions and learned a couple of tricks I want to share along the way. I wanted to use 1×2 inch boards, but didn’t have enough of that dimension on hand, so I ripped 1×4 scraps with my table saw by setting the guide arm at 1.5 inches (which is the actual width of a 1×2 board). I

Next I set my miter saw to 45º and cut one end of my homemade 1×2.

I measured from the short inner point of the angle 9 inches over and cut the other side going the opposite direction (so I moved my miter saw 45º to the left).

I lined the inner frame up with 1×2 flipped up on its side to know where to make the 45º cuts for the outer frame. This was easier and quicker than measuring! I used 2 paint stirrers to give me the thickness for attaching the inner frame to the outer so that the back of the frame would be recessed for my foam mounted gift bags (foam mounting happens after the frames are made, see below).

Use wood glue at the join and clamp the inner and outer frame together. Nail in place with 2 inch nails. Did I ever tell you I love this Ryobi AirStrike cordless nailer? I do. It is a go to tool for me. So easy to use, CORDLESS, goodbye hammer and nails.

Cut foam board to fit in the back of the recessed frame. Cut the desired image area off of the gift bag and adhere it to the foam board with Super 77 or other mounting adhesive.

Smooth wrinkles from the center out with your hand.

Paint frame with color of choice. I used white chalk paint and antiqued the edges with FolkArt Antiquing Medium . I sealed with Krylon Clear Coat Matte Finish because it was nice outside and I was excited that I could use spray sealer after such a long winter! Wax or varnish would be fine too.

Since the foam board is cut to the same dimensions as the recess in the back of the frame, the picture pretty much fits and stays. I used clear packing tape to secure it in place.

I used Coordinations adhesive cardstock in yellow and my Cricut with SCAL software to cut out the text, which I created in Photoshop (“oh” is “Always in My Heart” font and “GLORIOUS DAY” is Ostrich Sans Black). Since the paper was adhesive I just peeled off the letters and put them on the chevron patterned framed backgrounds like you see in the photo. You could use the cut file to make a stencil and paint the letters on, or print them in your favorite color and cut them out by hand too.

Hello friends! It’s Barbara from Chase the Star, and today I’m happy to share another simple DIY project. Mother’s Day is almost here and Moms love it when we make them gifts, right? Well they did when we were kids, so why not continue the tradition?

DIY Mother’s Day Gift

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I love Proverbs 31 and I think verse 28 is perfect for mothers as a reminder of how much she should be cherished and appreciated! Of course it would make a great DIY project, so I headed to the thrift store and picked up this picture:

It’s the perfect size and the back already has a hanger!

How to DIY a Sign

Materials:

Second hand sign (thrift store, garage sale, etc.)

Sanding block

Spray paint

Die Cut Machine (I used the Cricut Explore)

Adhesive vinyl / Transfer paper

Step 1: This picture is actually a sticker, so I wet the whole thing and peeled it off with a scraper. After it was dry I went over it with a sanding block.

Step 2: Spray it in the color of your choice; I went with gloss black.

Step 3: Create the verse on the cutting machine, cut it out, and adhere it to the painted wood (for instructions on how to do that click here). Instead of peeling the lettering and painting, I just kept the white vinyl on there.

Step 4: Go over the whole piece with the sanding block, carefully! This step is optional but it will reduce some of the gloss (if you used gloss paint) and give it an overall ‘worn’ look.

Since the hardware is already on, all you have to do is wrap it up in pretty paper and give it to the Mom in your life!

Play around with the fonts on your machine and choose the one that you like the best. I wanted my sign to be simple, so I went with cursive. I think I will make a few more so I can pass them out to friends, back to the thrift store I go!

I decided one day to take a little trip to the local goodwill and see if I could find any good finds. Guess what? I always find something I just think I can’t live without and this time around it was no different. I found a beautiful banker’s chair just waiting for me to take home! I did not even think about it twice and just drove it home.

Once it was home I had to decide what I wanted to do with it. I did not want to spray paint. I choose to do my home made chalk paint and paint it.

The great thing about using chalk paint is that I don’t have to sand the chair and it’s all about just painting and not worrying about all the mess of sanding.

I made my home made chalk paint with black paint I got at my local hardware store. If you would like to know more about my home made chalk paint you can find it here.

I applied about two coats of chalk paint and let it dry. Once it was dried I just used a wet cloth and rubbed off the paint the selected areas. I wanted the chair to look used and I rubbed the chalk paint off in the areas where it would be well used. Now the chair has a little chic look.

I then applied a sealer coat on the chair to make sure they chalk paint will not continue to come off with wear.

And how about this DIY custom storage cubby I built for storing my Sizzix Dies? It is painted with a recipe for chalk paint you can make yourself. Head over for the DIY woodworking plan and chalk paint recipe!

Have you ever wondered what you could do with balsa wood? I mean besides kid school projects? I inherited a stack of the stuff and it has been stowed away for years, waiting for me to be struck with inspiration. I saw these cool, modern DIY jewelry pieces from Infinity Blend and now I can’t wait to get started! You don’t have to have special power tools with this wood, just a craft knife and tiny screw driver you would use on your eyeglasses.